“Justice to the left of you,
justice to the right
Speak when you are spoken to, but don’t pretend you’re right
This life’s not for living, it’s for fighting and for wars
No matter what the truth is hold on to what is yours!”

Film ****

When I was a teenager, fashion and music underwent
vast upheavals, when albums were named after numbers, earth tones disappeared,
and paranoia permeated the arts. The 1980’s were interesting years for rock
music because while many new styles are artists emerged, artists from the 1970’s
produced some of their best work, often with a polish that they did not achieve
in their early years. While they would often be accused of selling out, there
is no denying the great 80s music released by veterans such as Deep Purple,
Chicago, Bruce Springsteen, and Yes.

While progressive rock deflated in the late 1970’s
under the pressure of more rebellious and primal music like early punk and new
wave, Yes imploded mainly from too many years on the road and the eventual
realization that band members simply did not need each other any more. Always a
band of musician’s musicians, any of them could play anywhere with anyone and
make a good living.

Largely for this reason, the Yes lineup changed as
often as jazz bands of the bebop era. To this day they have not made more than
two consecutive studio albums with the same lineup. Bassist Chris Squire and
drummer Alan White continued to work together and briefly formed “XYZ” with
Jimmy Page, but the project never went beyond the demo stage. But then they
came across a gifted young musician from South Africa named Trevor
Rabin. There were no plans to even re-form Yes, but rather to go in an entirely
new direction. Rabin sang, wrote, played great guitar and even keyboards. His
original music had been rejected by major labels for being too unusual, which
actually encouraged his quest to get it recorded. When he practiced with Squire
and White for the first time, they had the opposite experience of most bands.
The jam was actually horrible by all accounts, but they liked each other and had
good chemistry.

Squire also contacted Tony Kaye, who had played on
the first three Yes albums, deciding that his departure was not “the most
justified thing in the world,” and the band moved forward with Rabin and Squire
sharing vocal duties in a band tentatively called “Cinema.” When an album was
begun, Jon Anderson heard some of it and was impressed. Many of the tunes were
more in his range anyway, particularly “Owner of a Lonely Heart,” which became
their biggest single ever. So completely by accident, Rabin found himself part
of a re-formed Yes, which had a modern rock energy and polish. Interestingly,
the band’s classical influence was all but gone while its progressive quirkiness
actually made them interesting enough for the new wave era. The introduction to
“Changes” was in an irregular meter, Squire’s melodic basslines continued to
propel the rhythm forward, “Hold On” features Alan White mixing up the rhythm in
the middle as only he can, and of course Anderson’s soaring vocals
made clear that Yes was still progressive but could also be commercial.

This excellent concert video portrays them in full
80’s mode with no earth tones anywhere, every instrument wireless, outfits that
make them look like Marvel Comics heroes, and an innovative aluminum stage where
the monitors were actually under the surface of the stage. It was the first
major project by Steven Soderbergh, who went on to make films such as Sex, Lies, & Videotape, Far From Heaven, and Erin Brockovich.

Well-restored with little graining or flaws
considering the constantly shifting light levels of bright rock star lights and
vivid colors with a darkened arena. Extremely good transfer considering the
medium used at the time.

Audio ****

The DTS is as good as almost any modern mix,
though not quite as loud. The stereo mix is actually even better and louder,
with less crowd noise.

Features ***

The real find is a version of the concert without
the strange visual effects which really just distracted from the excellence of
the show. It has the same excellent audio as the other version. There is a
24-minute behind the scenes feature which frankly is not very interesting, with
the band meandering to and from gigs. A version of “Roundabout” which looks
excellent but has inferior sound is here. No explanation is given as to why it
is not in the final version but more than likely it is due to audio problems.
The band interviews are not bad but unfortunately very bland.

I do not recall any of these features being on the
original Beta and VHS releases, but the animation-less version of the show is
excellent. The other features are barely interesting even to a die-hard fan
like me.

Summary:

One of the best concert films of the 1980s is
finally on DVD and well worth another look.